The Asteroid Eros
Launched in 1996 the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, made history's first landing on an asteroid in February 2001, bringing a spectacular finale to a year of scientific discovery.

Renamed in memory of the late planetary scientist, Gene Shoemaker, NEAR Shoemaker orbited Eros for a full year, giving scientists a bounty of data that included more than 100,000 close-up images.